IU falls 70-60 to Nebraska on Senior Night

Nebraska forwards Walter Pitchford and Shavon Shields scored 17 points each to lead Nebraska to a 70-60 win over Indiana in front of 17,472 at Assembly Hall on Senior Night, continuing the Cornhuskers’ NCAA Tournament push and effectively ending the Hoosiers.

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33 comments

Maybe we make the NIT…can’t see Indiana being any better next year.There will be massive transfer’s as soon as this season is over.I would doubt Blackmon is still coming.Until Crean is gone…this is our normal season.Have 2 top 4 pick’s and 6 players playing pro ball from last season’s team and we still can’t get past the Sweet 16…must get a coach that will recruit big men and then know how to use them.

I agree Hoosier;players dont stick around in an environment of frustration and unhappiness.For the biggest part,most these kids play as if they cant wait to get the hell outta dodge fast enough.either Crean cant get his message across to the masses or the masses arent buying into his “message”. CTC makes a great cheerleader but Im not so sureof his coaching

Big Congratulations to the seniors! Well done. Amid the disappointment, there are some bright spots. IU was just a couple of late makes away from getting over the top and pullingout a win at the end. Everything just a little short-maybe fatigue. But some of the youngsters had nice contributions. Williams scored the ball, and Devin Davis played well I thought.

Collectively the dumbest team in the Big Ten. IU defenders continually bit on the 3-point shot fake of a 30% 3-point shooter allowing him to drive for 17 points. This team continues to execute the same errors game in and game. The only difference is how effective the defense of the opponent is. If the defense is so-so, then IU has a chance to win. If the defense is good, then IU has no chance to win.

Congrats Will for your stellar play through the years. I’ve appreciated all the work you put into your game. I’ve enjoyed watching you play, and the hustle you brought to every game. Thanks also to Evon, Jeff and Taylor. May you all enjoy much success in life however life unfolds itself to you in your life’s journey.

Regardless of last night’s outcome, I hope you, our team, will show up for Michigan and the Big Ten Tournament. We know you can play very well at times, even with the best. So show us your very best in the next few games. Once again, surprise us. Rise from the doldrums. Win these next games. You can. Simply play with a lot of fun and exuberance, coupled with pride and respect for yourself and IU.

Wow, some chicken-littles posting on this site again. “Massive transfers,” give me a break. No better next year, that’s just stupid. Let’s not forget that IU was playing without their best player last night.

Last night’s loss was certainly disappointing. But it did not provide any grounds to believe that the sky is falling on IU basketball.

If you believe all the hype about a class of incoming freshman, you deserve to be disappointed when they don’t perform up to your unreasonable expectations. Just ask Kentucky fans this year. Physical talent is, in relative terms, less important than experience, maturity and mental/emotional toughness. This year, IU has lots of players with the former, but not enough players with the latter. It was obvious watching last night’s game.

Hollowell…Davis…will leave…Robinson maybe…HMP will not be on the team after his court date.Blackmon and Johnson will have a change of heart soon after the season is over.They are both 0ne or two and done and Indiana will be no better next year.Johnson will go to North Carolina and Blackmon to Kentucky.Crean will survive and be back next year but that will be his last.Stevens will be over the NBA by the end of next year and will beg Indiana to hire him.Not sure Stevens will be the answer…but will be a major improvement over Crean.I’m sure glad Crean knew we would not need Creek and Roth this season…with all that talent we had this year and the great 3 point shooting we had…we sure did not need those 2 5th year seniors did we.Another coaching blunder by Crean…or just the normal for this horrible coach.

OK. Just to throw the cold water of facts into that argument.
Roth could not have played this year. It was not possible. He was a freshman in 2008-09. You don’t get to keep your eligibility five years past enrollment. He could have played in 2012-13, but not this season.
Blackmon and Johnson have signed letters of intent. They can’t back out without sitting out a year.
People who coach the Boston Celtics do not beg anyone to hire them. That’s a little bit of opinion, but the notion that Stevens will desperately want to no longer coach the most storied franchise in the NBA after two years boggles my mind entirely.

couldn’t agree less with a previous post accusing yogi of being a ball hog. if yogi does go pro along with noah you can be sure we will be the worst team in the conference.

seems to me that yogi understands that with our horribly coached offense he bears the responsibility to put points on the board, even if it’s early in the shot clock. late in the clock he will not get an open look. he would lead the league in assists if our players knew how to get open and run a proper offense. how often, if ever, do you see players coming off screens on the perimeter ready to catch and shoot?

we run some flex offense that can be very effective if run right but no one sets real screens that pick off defenders. cuts are also too slow. it looks like flex is run for the sake of movement, which makes it easy to defend. the devil is in the details and it is the counter moves to screen switches that can really make flex go. but alas, crean remains clueless.

don’t blame yogi. he has enormous heart and talent. it is crean who wastes it.

Honest question. There’s this rash of mis-information on the blog suddenly about the possibility that Matt Roth could have played this year despite having had just one medical redshirt season and having enrolled in 2008-09. Where is this coming from?

Dustin… The beauty of being a hard core IU fan who doesn’t actually live (and rarely leaves) in Indiana is that we normally don’t have that myopic perspective.

Posts #1 and 2 show that myopia disease in true colors.

1. The premise is completely false
2. It shows a total lack of fundamental understanding of recruiting/transferring rules
3. It’s not nearly as bad as we make it out to be
4. No team that wasn’t undergoing major sanctions has ever had an exodus that these people envision…

Coachv… You’re pretty much dead on. Yogi has already proved he can play with talent, facilitate and win. Now he’s proving he can score on a mediocre team…

He is a player who is going to have 1st and last shot at handling the ball… He is adjusting to circumstances and reading his environment. Next year’s team will have more options for 2 reasons:
1. More experience from existing talent
2. Additional perimeter shooting

So he will settle into a middle ground next year. He will be a highly experienced junior who has played in 2 drastically different environments for a PG and will settle into a valuable role – leader, distributor, defender, and clutch scorer.

Now he just desperately tries to fill voids from game to game. Next year will be better for him, them, and us as fans.

Dustin, I believe the NCAA rules allow five years to complete four years of eligibility (thus a red shirt year which can be granted at the end of the eligibility period). In addition, an athlete can petition for an additional year for an year lost to injury or other exigent circumstance. Not sure if Roth qualified, but theoretically he could have played his eligibility out over a six-year period.

If Roth enrolled in 2008-2009 (year 1), 2009-2010 (year 2), 2010-2011 (year 3), 2011-2012 (year 4); anyone of those year would have been ok to petition as a red shirt yer as long as he didn’t play at a particular point and allowed 2012-2013 as his ‘fifth’ year. And, had he lost time to injury, he would have been able to request a ‘sixth’ year of eligibility in 2013-2014 at IU.

Creek would also have ‘benefited’ from an additional year plus , probably, petitioned for an additional year since he lost two to injuries.

Where is the clamoring coming from? Probably from those who sensed the possibility that Roth would have been a solid player and a very valuable outside shooter (at a time we had little); and that Creek may have been a key player (even after his injuries), a marked improvement and a most valuable addition to the Hoosiers in 2013-14 from his all-around guard play, his ‘team first’ sense, floor vision and offensive/defensive output. In addition, I suspect his most valuable contribution would have been his leadership, intelligence, attitude and commitment. Hard to argueagainst those who believed the two would have changed the nature of this year’s team and been perfect examples for the physically talented but maturity short freshmen who played in their places.

Game! Set! Match! …or, maybe, not. I don’t think Roth could have come back this year. I believe that ship sailed in 2012-13.

We needed Hemi Rebel(a.k.a. Remy Abell) …We pushed off Hemi to get in strong again with the Gordon’s. Crean would have looked like Cruella de Vil if he would have just shoved Creek off the team.

It’s all strategy, Tsao. Here’s the thought process..”Hmmm…? I need to get really into the mix on Eron Gordon…I’m one scholly over? That’s an easy fix. Goodbye Mo…Hmmm? Can I just cut a cripple with on one else? Gotta do what ya gotta do. Goodbye Hemi Rebel…HELLO EVAN!!”

Tsao,
It is theoretically possible for someone to play six years because of injury or exigent circumstance, but it wasn’t like Roth’s situation wasn’t covered at length. He had the one injury his sophomore year. That was it. His career played out like so.
2008-09 — He played his freshman year.
2009-10 — He played about two games before suffering a season-ending foot injury. This would be his redshirt year.
2010-11 — He played his redshirt sophomore year.
2011-12 — He played his redshirt junior year.
2012-13 — He would have had a fifth year of eligibility but IU was oversigned and he was not brought back.
There was a huge discussion and debate about this and whether or not it was fair or unfair that he wasn’t on the team for the fifth year. There was never any reason for there to be a sixth and no one said one word about Matt Roth all season. Now all of the sudden it’s a point of confusion. Sure, they could have used Matt Roth. They could have also used Calbert Cheaney and Steve Alford. I just don’t know where it came from that 2013-14 was somehow in the cards for him.

Just in case you’re not familiar with Eron…This kid is the cat’s pajamas. He’s like 15-years-old. His future investment return could already buy the most beautiful historic row house on the Gold Coast of Lakeshore Dr. Kelvin would have gone after this youngest Gordon harder than he did with pulling a verbally committed Eric from the Illini. Crean’s got Blackmon coming in next year…Evon is the one in the oven. Tom is a genius. There’s always gonna be one recruit with the “can’t wait until we get him next year” theme written all over his savior heinie..

Roth could have played this year at Indiana and wanted to.Crean did not want him to take Evan Gordon.Another Crean stupid move.What has Gordon done…nothing.Creek is playing for George Washington U. close to his home and in early Jan. was avg.18.0 per game and hit a game winning shot for one win.Another Crean move that just shows how stupid Crean really is.The talk of Yogi going pro is just plain dumb…he would never get drafted by any NBA team.Vonleh will be a middle to late first round pick.Crean only let HMP come back and play because of the injury to Vonleh and he knew he had no one to play in the middle.But yet Crean barely plays him.It doesn’t matter who IU gets or plays…every dead ball Crean has to sub.Just look at the players face has they leave…are you kidding me sub again.Crean has done what IU has asked him to do.The program was as low as it could go.He has brought it back to respectability and he is a good man and goes by the rules…but IU will never get past the Sweet 16 with Crean has the coach.Great recruitor and nice guy…just not a game coach.The Boston Celtics are not the cream of the crop has they were 20 years ago.Stevens will leave there after next year.Boston will be no better next year or for the next 3-4 years.I love IU basketball have only missed 5 home games since 1983…but if anybody thinks Crean is the answer or IU will suddenly make a hugh turnaround and become great in the next 2-3 years…you don’t know basketball.

Dustin, you asked where did it come from; and I tried to answer supporting you case by detailing my understanding of the B1G eligibility period. Now, you repeat it a third time. I know that lost in there, there is a point but I sure don’t know what it is…

Then …Cheaney and Alford…???

No one’s criticizing anything you wrote, then or now. Wrong business to be excessively touchy.

_________________
Harvard; Thanks, had heard a rumor about Eron, but thought his name was Enron. Basically, you made the point some two years ago about players being pushed out and scholarships recycled. It was controversial then and you were right. You are still controversial…and still right. Thought about that reading (and missing) Roth and, especially, Creek, and yes,… Remy.

Sincerely hope you’re doing well. I saw your post the other day…Just didn’t feel like getting in a spat with you. Just wanted to get across my belief that there are plenty of ugly problems and homes that don’t instill solid values in the world of suburbia. There are middle class drug cultures and a diet that favors violent behavior spanning all demographics.

I viewed the rather flippant attitude over sons of pretty prominent figures around Bloomington being involved in a very violent beating of a young man rather strange for a campus that sells a clean and wholesome culture post the “cancer” label given to preceding villains. I know it’s isolated, but it’s ugly behavior that I personally find far more despicable than academic struggles. These are sons of a man that is a celebrity and goes to dozens upon dozens of Hoosier home basketball games. They move within a circle of friends/sons tied very close to some of our other sports programs.

Until you’ve ever been the victim of a physical beating where you may have feared for your life, maybe it’s difficult to understand just how violent such an experience. It is an experience that can damage hope and cause years of heartache.

So, yes…It’s controversial to talk about. Much like drunk driving is controversial. But when the problems circle around players, children of celebrity fans that parade the streets of Bloomington, and offspring our coaches, I believe it deserves just as much attention as chasing Jeff Meyer around center court in Ann Arbor.

Anyway…Good to see you posting again. Always enjoy your effort to educate and inform.

Hoosier 1987, he could have played last year. Not this year. Last year. Crean didn’t want him to then, but 2012-13 was the last year he could have played college basketball at the Division I level. You can absolutely criticize Crean for that decision, but your facts are wrong if you think he would’ve been eligible this season.
Tsao,
My point is that we already had this debate a year ago. Harvard may have written about it a few times. Or a thousand. Plus, the facts of Roth’s career are documented and not in dispute. His career started in 2008-09. He lost one season due to injury. Why is it that suddenly, at the end of this season, about 18 months after the decision was made for Roth not to return, multiple people are not just asking if Roth could have had a sixth year, but blaming Crean for not giving it to him? I mention Alford and Cheaney because IU can’t have them back for the same reason. Too much time has passed since their freshman years. Obviously, those are more extreme examples and that’s the joke.
I’m not trying to be touchy. This is just bizarre.